We continued to the dunes parking area and started hiking across the dunes.
It's a really beautiful and surreal area with snow-capped mountains behind the giant dunes.
We continued to High Dune as this was the best spot for duneboarding.
We dropped out stuff at the base and took turns climbing up the dunes and sledding or boarding down.
The climb up the steep dunes was challenging, but was fun sliding back down.
It was quite windy and although we were wearing goggles, after a few runs, we started heading back. There were a few shorter runs on the way back.
We headed back to the lodge and returned our board and sled and had lunch. Then we headed to Zapata Falls Campground. The road up was very rough, but we didn't have much trouble by going slow. There was construction near the top so we just parked and hiked the rest of the way. There were nice views of the dunes and mountains from the parking area, but the blowing sand was reducing visibility.
We got on Zapata Falls Trail and followed it under a half-mile to South Zapata Creek.
Zapata Falls was completely frozen.
The deep blue ice was really gorgeous.
We spent a while in the narrow chasm enjoying this spectacular waterfall.
A few more people showed up so we started hiking back. The sandstorm had picked up and we couldn't see much of anything now.
We continued back to the car and made the very slow drive back down.
We ate dinner at the lodge and then went for another evening hike in the park. We parked again at the Montville Nature Trailhead and followed Mosca Pass Trail.
The trail soon entered Sangre de Cristo Wilderness and there were nice views from the trail.
We hiked about a mile into the wilderness but didn't go too far.
We got some pictures in here and then headed back.
Back at the lodge, we enjoyed a nice sunset view from the back porch as the sandstorm had subsided.
Then we went to bed.
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